This application claims priority to German Patent Application Serial Number 100 52 408.7, filed Oct. 23, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a method and a device for supplying a flowable medium to the tobacco of a smoking product.
Supplying flowable media, in particular for example flavor, to smoking products is carried out in many different ways in the prior art. Mostly, in this respect, a special flavor drum is provided in tobacco preparation, into which tobacco is introduced and in which flavor is added to said tobacco, after which it is transported to the production machine in order to produce the tobacco rod.
DE 198 44 682 shows a method wherein the tobacco is sprayed with flavor by means of a nozzle while the rod is being formed; U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,276, DE 38 21 677 and EP 0 588 447 show similar methods. Methods and devices are also known by which the consumer can inject flavor into individual cigarettes, such as for example from AT 17823, UK 262003, U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,872 and WO 98/02053.
Furthermore, injecting flavor into a multitude of pre-positioned cigarettes, even through the packaging, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,162. Moreover, it is sometimes common to include menthol flavor in the cigarette packet together with the finished cigarettes, for example on the inner lining.
All the prior art has the disadvantage that it either isn""t suitable for the mass production of cigarettes, such as for example the end consumer individually injecting media by means of hollow mandrels, or too great a portion of the flavor used is lost in stages of production after the flavor has been provided because of the very high volatility of the flavor material, such that flavor material is essentially wasted.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a method and a device for supplying a flowable medium to the tobacco of a smoking product, by which the above-mentioned disadvantages in the prior art are overcome. In particular, the volatility arising after the medium is supplied is to be minimized in a factory manufacturing method for smoking products, and consumption of the medium thus reduced during manufacture.
This object is solves in the method in accordance with the invention by the medium being introduced on a drum of a cigarette machine, after the rod is formed.
In other words, the flowable medium is introduced in accordance with the invention at a very late point in the mechanical course of manufacturing the smoking product, at the point where the smoking product is already lying on drums, isolated from the other smoking products. This introduction of the medium very late in the course of production ensures that the smoking products are placed in their final packaging very soon after the flavor is supplied, such that the medium has less time in total to evaporate. This also requires a smaller quantity of the medium, and the corresponding savings precipitate large cost advantages in mass production.
The flowable medium can be introduced as a liquid, pasty, powdery, filiform or gaseous medium. In particular, one embodiment of the present invention foresees introducing the flowable medium into the rod of the smoking product, in particular a cigarette, by means of a hollow mandrel. In this way, it is possible to insert the hollow mandrel into the front end of the smoking product, and to discharge the medium out of the hollow mandrel while withdrawing it from the rod. In principle, the medium may also be discharged while inserting the hollow mandrel. If the smoking product is a filter cigarette, the hollow mandrel is inserted up until just in front of the filter, and then withdrawn. In this respect, it is advantageous to move the hollow mandrel at a uniform speed with respect to the rod when introducing the medium, in order to enable distribution of the medium over the rod, in particular a uniform distribution of the medium over the length of the rod.
In preferred embodiments of the method in accordance with the invention, the medium is introduced on an already available or additional drum of the filter assembler of the cigarette machine. If an already available drum of the filter assembler is used, providing a separate drum is advantageously unnecessary, and space allowing, the medium should be supplied in accordance with the invention on such an already available drum. If the proportions of space on the cigarette machine do not permit this, then providing an additional drum can ensure that the working environment of the cigarette machine is not too seriously obstructed.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hollow mandrel is held, in particular together with other hollow mandrels, on a carrier drum or section of a carrier drum rotating synchronously with the drum.
In an embodiment of the method in accordance with the invention, the hollow mandrel, which in particular is provided with screw-like outer grooves, is inserted into and extracted from the rod with auto-rotation, in particular with auto-rotation in opposite directions for inserting and extracting. This counteracts the tobacco stick compacting when the hollow mandrel is inserted (rimming effect) and the tobacco stick loosening when the hollow mandrel is extracted (end outage).
The flowable medium can be supplied to the hollow mandrel and/or rod by means of the rotational centrifugal forces of the rotating carrier drum, or by means of a pump. In principle, the two methods of supply cited may also be used in combination. The flow of the medium may be regulated by means of a valve/control means.
According to the method in accordance with the invention, the device for supplying a flowable medium in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a means by which the medium is introduced on a drum of the cigarette machine, after the rod has been formed. This device also has the advantages described above. It preferably comprises a hollow mandrel, by means of which the flowable medium is introduced into the rod of the smoking product, in particular a cigarette, and preferably by inserting the hollow mandrel into the front end and discharging the medium while withdrawing the hollow mandrel from the rod. In order to move the hollow mandrel in this way, an axial movement means is provided in an advantageous embodiment, which moves the hollow mandrel at a uniform speed with respect to the rod when introducing the medium, allowing the medium to be distributed over the rod.
When introducing the medium, an already available or additional drum of the filter assembler of the cigarette machine may be used as a holding means for the smoking product, as has already been explained by way of the method in accordance with the invention, wherein again the possibility likewise exists of using a carrier drum or a section of a carrier drum (segment), rotating synchronously with the drum, as a holding device for the hollow mandrel, in particular also for other hollow mandrels.
In one embodiment, the axial movement means comprises a sliding part on which the hollow mandrel may slide axially when being inserting into or extracted from the rod, wherein the axial movement is generated via an inclined plate, in particular a cam plate, on which a running bearing connected to the sliding part runs off. In this way, the rotational movement of the drum may be harnessed using relatively simple means, and translated into an axial movement for the hollow mandrel. If the plate is formed as a cam plate, an influence can still be brought to bear in this respect on the speeds at which the hollow mandrel is inserted into and extracted from the rod, in such a way that for example a rapid insertion and a uniform, slower extraction are ensured, wherein the medium is then introduced uniformly.
The device in accordance with the invention may further comprise a rotating means with which the hollow mandrel, which in particular is provided with screw-like outer grooves, is provided with auto-rotation when it is inserted into the rod and extracted from it. In particular here, opposing auto-rotation is generated when inserting and extracting. The advantages of said auto-rotation have already been described above. It can be realized by the rotating means comprising a rotating bearing for a take-up volume, to which the hollow mandrel is fastened, as well as toothed wheels on the circumference of the take-up volume which mesh with respective tooth meshings and effect the respective auto-rotation when the hollow mandrel is moved axially.
In order to realize supply of the medium to the hollow mandrel, the device may comprise a supplying means which conveys the flowable medium by means of the rotational centrifugal forces of the rotating carrier drum. This may be constructively realized in such a way that the supplying means comprises a conduit centered on the rotational axis of the carrier drum, said conduit feeding the respective take-up volumes and/or hollow mandrels with the medium via radially arranged, rotating feed lines. In principle, the medium may of course also or additionally be supplied by means of a pump, and there exists the possibility in either case of regulating the flow of the medium using a valve/control means.
In one embodiment, the number of hollow mandrels simultaneously introducing the medium can substantially correspond to the number of smoking products held on the drum, while in a different embodiment it is equally possible for the number of hollow mandrels simultaneously introducing the medium to correspond to a portion of the number of smoking products held on the drum and for the medium to be introduced sequentially into respectively successive partial quantities of the smoking products.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, the device comprises an axial and radial movement means which translates the machine-drive movement into rotational, inserting and extracting movement by means of drive pulleys and cornering.